The point of Le Touquet

12:01AM GMT 04 Feb 2003

Last October Jacques Chirac cancelled a long-planned meeting with Tony Blair, saying that the Prime Minister had been very rude to him at a Brussels summit.

The reconvened talks take place today in the Channel resort of Le Touquet. Yet in the intervening period, relations have become even sourer. France is still threatening to use its veto in the Security Council if a second resolution on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction is presented.

Compare that with Britain's commitment of nearly 40,000 servicemen and women to the Gulf. On Zimbabwe, M Chirac has spited Mr Blair by inviting Robert Mugabe to a Franco-African summit in Paris on February 19.

The deal, yet to be finalised, is that the Government will go along with waiving sanctions on this occasion in return for French support for their renewal after they expire on February 18.

In such a climate, what is the point of Le Touquet, apart from providing an opportunity for mutual recrimination that will go down well at home? The answer is that each leader wants a favour from the other.

The Prime Minister would like the French to drop their reservations about going to war with Iraq and join the allied coalition. M Chirac is after British support for the strengthening of the 60,000-strong European rapid reaction force launched by the two men in St Malo in 1998.

Development of this force has been hampered by the signatories' differing concepts of what it should be: the French favouring an autonomous command outside Nato; the British, complementarity with the alliance. However, the project received a boost in December with an agreement on EU access to Nato assets, planning and logistics.

The communique from Le Touquet will bring St Malo back into the headlines. The rapid reaction force will be deployed in Macedonia next month, its first military operation, and will take over in Bosnia-Hercegovina next year.

There are also plans for it to play a role in Africa. Britain and France will create a new agency to assess their military hardware requirements and avoid duplication in manufacturing. This could entail the pooling of aircraft carriers to ensure that one is always available for immediate action. (Last week, the Government placed a £2.8 billion order for two carriers, dividing the contract between BAE Systems and Thales, its French rival.)

The French quid pro quo for acquiescence over Iraq has found Mr Blair's weak spot: the desire to straddle the Atlantic by being both America's best friend and standing at the heart of Europe. With British public opinion steadfast against the euro, the Prime Minister sees defence co-operation as the best way to further the second.

For that, he is ready to go along with the French in a project they have always viewed as a means of securing Europe's military independence from the Americans. On Iraq and Zimbabwe, Mr Blair should have challenged the French to do their damnedest and risk the consequent isolation. Instead, he has fallen for compromises that are both foolish and unprincipled.